Remarrying Chun Yuan

Chapter 211: Holding a grudge

"To become an old eunuch's concubine?"

Liu Yuechu was surprised to hear this, as she had no idea about such a thing in her previous life.

"How could a dignified Prefect of the Capital give his own daughter to an old eunuch as a concubine? Even if you wanted to be with the Liu family, you wouldn't dare to slander your own father like this, would you?"

"I swear to God I am not slandering you!"

Tong Jia'er sobbed uncontrollably, raising her right hand. "I swear to God, if I have uttered even the slightest lie, may I be struck by lightning! He says he is my father, but he is nothing but a heartless beast who doesn't treat us, his illegitimate children, as human beings at all! I only hope to have a place to live and survive. I don't want to spend my whole life with an old eunuch, living a life worse than death!"

Liu Yuechu was stunned by her wailing.

Who would have thought this would happen?

At this moment, Liu Fujia was already outside announcing, "Master, the Tong family has sent people to take Miss Tong back to the manor, and they are already waiting at the gate."

Since the Liu family had suffered a loss, it was inappropriate for them to enter the mansion.

Liu Yuechu nodded and then had someone come over to help Tong Jia'er up and send her out of the Liu residence.

Tong Jia'er couldn't outmaneuver the old women in the mansion, and glared fiercely at Liu Yuechu. "Pah! You vicious woman! You stood by and watched me die! Don't think you'll get away with this just because you interfered in my affairs. You'll definitely suffer a terrible death!"

……

She was led away by the old women, cursing and swearing, and her voice gradually faded into the distance.

Huajiao chimed in discontentedly, "This person is utterly unreasonable. Her own father tricked her, yet she blames you. It's true what they say, even the most pitiful people have their hateful aspects. She doesn't deserve any sympathy at all!"

Liu Yuechu didn't have time to ponder whether she deserved sympathy; instead, she was thinking about what Tong Jia'er had just said.

In her memory, the Prefect of the Capital was a very low-key person who was always strict with his children. How could he have become a beast who didn't care about the lives of his children in Tong Jia'er's words?

"Who from the Tong family came to pick her up?"

"It was the steward and their eldest son who came."

Liu Yuechu nodded. "When Suozi's wife comes, have her come see me." She didn't want to meddle in other people's business, fearing that such meddlesome matters would soon implicate the Liu family.

Huajiao nodded and then brought up Yuancuo, saying, "The son-in-law has also returned and is helping with arrangements in the front hall."

Liu Yuechu had no choice but to put aside the inexplicable Tong family affairs and focus on the old lady's funeral arrangements.

The old lady's funeral was not a grand affair. But all those who were supposed to come to pay their respects did.

They weren't after the Liu family, but rather Liu Yuechu and Yuan Cuo. These were currently the most influential figures in the capital, and regardless of whether they could befriend them, it was always a good time to socialize with them.

Liu Yuechu naturally assigned Liu Musheng to handle the situation, as he was the eldest grandson of the eldest branch of the family and the most suitable person to do so.

Yuan Cuo stayed with her for three days, and then Liu Yuechu told him to continue his work. "...There's no need to wait until the seventh day after her death. After all, you're just a son-in-law. Besides, the old lady in heaven wouldn't want us to act so filial. It's completely unnecessary."

The old lady's daily life consisted entirely of the most luxurious items in Beijing, and her granddaughter felt no guilt whatsoever.

Yuan Cuo replied, "I know what I'm doing."

"Master, the Tong family has sent offerings to pay respects to the old lady. The steward who came wants to say a few words to you," Uncle Chun said from outside.

Liu Yuechu was quite surprised.

She really didn't expect the Tong family to send someone.

Seeing her hesitation, Yuan Cuo asked, "What's wrong?" Liu Yuechu hadn't told him about Tong Jia'er and Liu Musheng. It wasn't that she was deliberately hiding anything, but rather that she had forgotten because of the funeral arrangements at home.

She then recounted the story of how the old lady and her third uncle had arranged a marriage for Liu Musheng that day, "...I thought the Prefect of the Capital was a shrewd official who upheld the law, but I never expected that he would even give his daughter to an old eunuch?"

"She left in a hurry that day, and I didn't ask which father-in-law he was, so I don't know if it's true or not. But I've already asked Suozi's wife to find out which families the girls of the Tong family have married."

Yuan Cuo fastened his coat buttons and mentioned Chen Zhongyao, saying, "He's most sensitive about these kinds of things. If you think it's necessary, you might as well ask him."

"I wanted to go and find him, but my older brother stopped me. After all, it involves his marriage, and he was afraid that Zhongyao would scold him terribly." Liu Yuechu didn't want to involve that big shot in this matter; it wouldn't be too late to do it once there was some progress.

The couple didn't say much more. Yuan Cuo was in a hurry to go to the palace to report on matters, and Liu Yuechu also went to the front hall to see the Tong family.

Lord Tong was a fourth-rank prefect, whose official rank and status were far higher than Yuan Cuo's.

Normally, only members of the imperial family or high-ranking officials could hold this position, but Lord Tong was an exception. He was a scholar from a poor family who rose through the ranks to become the Prefect of the Capital.

"I'm currently busy with a funeral at home, and I apologize for keeping the Tong family steward waiting for so long." She said warmly and politely, and then asked Huajiao to prepare some tea.

The head of the Tong family was an old nanny. Seeing her attitude, she couldn't keep a straight face, so she respectfully thanked her.

"When I came to your residence this time, Madam gave me two instructions. One was to kowtow and pay respects to the old lady, which the steward of the residence just took me to do. The other thing... was to inquire about the marriage arrangements in the residence."

The old nanny gave a forced smile. "That day, our Third Sister went back and knelt before Madam, crying and complaining that she had agreed to the marriage with the Liu family and was going against Madam's arrangements. Madam was quite angry. How could she do such a shameless thing? She locked Third Sister in the courtyard and punished her by making her copy scriptures, forbidding her from leaving the house. But we hope the Liu family can tell us the specifics of what happened?"

"She is, after all, a young lady from our Tong family. We can't just dismiss her with a few words."

……

The Tong family has already come to their door to demand an explanation, which means that Tong Jia'er went back and made up some nonsense, and who knows what kind of scandalous stories she has fabricated.

Liu Yuechu hesitated for a moment before speaking, "This did happen. My younger brother from the third branch of the family had taken a liking to Miss Jia'er and intended to arrange a marriage. He even brought her to meet the old lady. However, after learning that Madam Tong had already arranged a marriage for Miss Jia'er, we gave up on the idea."

She had to clear Liu Musheng of the blame, especially since the matter was indeed caused by the third branch of the family, so naturally the third branch had to take the blame.

The old woman frowned. Why did this sound different from what Tong Jia'er had said?

"Isn't he Liu Yiren's brother?"

"Of course not. My brother's marriage is to be decided by Princess Chen and the Grand Commander. The whole capital knows about this. It can't be arranged in private." Liu Yuechu brought up her adoptive mother at the right time. Even if the Prefect of the Capital had a high position, it was still far inferior to the Grand Commander of the Southwest.

The old woman looked embarrassed and could only blame Tong Jia'er for talking nonsense and deliberately spreading false information to the madam.

But thinking of the young man from the third branch of the Liu family, although he was also from the Liu family, he had neither official rank nor money. How could he compare to the old eunuch of the Imperial Household Department?

But the old eunuch was, after all, a eunuch, and it wouldn't sound good if word got out.

"Our lady's idea is that if the eldest son of the family is interested in marriage, she can adopt Miss Jia'er as her own daughter and marry her off. Besides, everyone knows what kind of idle position the eldest son of the family holds, so it wouldn't be a loss for him to become the son-in-law of our Tong family."

“Our master is the Prefect of the Capital, and his desk is mostly filled with trivial matters from various prefectures. The things the eldest son did in the past are hardly something to be proud of…”